Israel considers assassinating Arafat, Israel Radio

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, May 20 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Israel has already exhausted all of its military options for ending Palestinian resistance against its occupation, with one of the only remaining alternatives is to assassinate or deport Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and other senior members of his authority, Israeli officials said Monday, May 20.

The campaign also targets Islamic resistance movement Hamas figures including its founder Sheikh Ahmed Yassin and spokesman Abdel Aziz al-Rantisi, Israel Radio quoted the officials as saying.

The radio quoted the unnamed senior officials as saying that "no limitations have been placed on security authorities in fighting terror," but described the task of attempting to foil all terror attacks as "Sisyphean," Haaretz daily reported.

Some of the options remaining to Israeli forces includes a massive, prolonged military incursion into the Gaza Strip, on the model of the 2002 “Operation Defensive Shield” in the West Bank, added the broadcaster.

The report came one day after Israeli bulldozers occupying the Gaza Strip destroyed 8 Palestinian houses and part of a mosque as three Israeli soldiers were slightly injured when a Palestinian bomber riding a bike detonated his explosives as they passed in a jeep in the Gaza Strip.

Shortly afterwards, four people were killed and dozens wounded in a bomb attack at the entrance of a shopping center in the northern Israeli town of Afula.

The blast was the fifth in Israel and the Palestinian territories in 48 hours.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's spokesman Ranaan Gissin Sunday, May 18, raised the possibility of Arafat's “disappearance” from the political stage, if not the occupied territories following a triple bombings over the weekend that killed nine Israelis plus the three bombers.

Palestinian Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath said Monday that Arafat is in great danger from Israel after Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's office said that the government will boycott any foreign official who meets the Palestinian leader.

Withdrawal

In the meanwhile, Israeli troops have withdrawn from the northern Gaza town of Beit Hanoun and its surrounding areas, territory they had occupied since last Thursday, residents told Agence France Presse (AFP).

The military incursion, backed by tanks, was launched allegedly to deal with Palestinian Qassam rocket fire towards southern Israel.

On Monday, 25 Palestinians were injured by Israeli fire in Beit Hanoun.

Hamas occasionally fires Qassam rockets, named after its armed wing, the Ezzedin al-Qassam brigades, from the northern Gaza Strip at the small Israeli town of Sderot.

The rockets have an estimated range of up to 12 kilometers (eight miles) but are largely inaccurate and have caused no fatalities.